I’ve wanted to read this from the second it was announced and it didn’t let me down!! It was absolutely one of the best thrillers I’ve read so far this year.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc! What a twisty, fun time this was! This story follow Abby who travels to this remote island in Mexico in hopes of talking to the last people who saw her fiance alive, who died in her Airbnb from an allergic reaction.
Abby takes a ferry to this small island and meets a group called expats (English speakers) When she gets there and starts talking to different people l'm telling you everyone was so0. unreliable and it was so hard to trust what anyone was saying. This story was so twisty and unreliable I loved it. The only thing that bothered me was Abby being so trusting of these random strangers otherwise a must read if you like thrillers!

The last chapter of this book was everything! Author Andrea Bartz had me until the very last page. She wrote an alluring island mystery. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

I have so much fun reading anything Andrea Bartz writes, but this story fell a little short for me. There were slow moments that I felt could’ve been shortened and the story would’ve gone smoother. Felt like there needed to be more action to keep the reader’s interest. This book was still fun to read, but not the author’s best. Thank you NetGalley for this digital arc.

Abby is devastated by the death of her fiancé Eszter.She travels to the secluded island where it happened. She needs closure. It doesn’t make any sense how Eszter died.
They said it was anaphylactic. But Eszter was always careful to carry her EpiPen wherever she went.
The last words that Eszter texted her were “I need to tell you something”.
Abbey meets her friends that live on the island. Everyone thinks it was just an accident, but Abby has her doubts, especially when Brody sends her a text that says he knows what happened to Eszter. But Brody suddenly disappears himself
Abbey discovers secrets and lies, and doesn’t know who to trust.
This was a slow burn mystery. I was really engaged in the beginning, but it was very slow and drawn out in parts. I was looking for excitement and drama. This book does have twists and turns and ending I didn’t see coming.
I would recommend it to anyone who likes a slow burn mystery.
Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for this advanced readers copy.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book to review, but woof. This book was a slog with a writing style that I could not put a finger on why, but felt so annoying and rang false to me. I appreciate an LGTBQ+ relationship when it feels like a natural part of the storytelling, this felt forced. The mystery felt forced. The bombshells and big reveals felt farfetched and improbable which really takes away from the book. The characters felt shallow and not fully fleshed out. So sorry, but this one was a big no for me.

4 Stars! The Last Ferry Out is a gripping, atmospheric thriller. Abby’s search for the truth about Eszter’s death kept me hooked, and the eerie island setting added to the suspense. A bit slow at times, but the twists made up for it. A solid read for mystery fans!

Wow what a twist there at the end! Did not even think that.

This book did take me a bit to get into.

Thank you for the ARC copy.

I was not very drawn into the storyline or the island setting. I wish the start was stronger to help me visualize the area and characters. Over not a fan.

thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

i was excited to get an arc of this one - i really have enjoyed a lot of andrea bartz's thrillers. this one, though, was disappointing to me. it's really not much of a thriller and reads more as a character study with some suspense. it's not all that twisty; honestly, it's not all that exciting, either, and is kind of a slow read for something marketed as a thriller. i like andrea bartz's writing a lot, but it was too slow for me, and i wasn't totally invested in the characters. not bad by any means - just kinda meh.

I genuinely enjoyed this! It took me a bit to be really invested, but by the end I couldn’t put it down. Great cast of characters and just enough plot twists to make it interesting without feeling too over top.

The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz is such a good time -- specifically for mystery and thriller readers!

The book starts out with an anxiety inducing scene of someone washing ashore on this remote island. They're not dead, but with where they washed ashore butting up against a steep, nearly-impassable cliff, they might as well be dead. As the book continues we meet Abby a young woman who has arrived on Isla Colel in hopes of piecing together her fiancee, Eszter's last days. See, Eszter died nearly 4 months ago on this island, an allergic reaction while alone in her Airbnb only days before Abby was supposed to join her. Abby can't wrap her head around how the anaphylaxis happened, especially with how cautious Eszter always was. Between the questions that don't add up, and the struggle to process her grief, Abby spends her time befriending the islanders hoping that she can piece it all together.

Like I said, this was such a fun time to read! Lately I have slowed down on reading mystery and thriller books because they were becoming predictable, but I'm so glad that I was preapproved for this book because I don't know that I would've picked it up otherwise but now that I have I want to read the authors whole backlog! I loved all the characters and their different personalities and values; the locals who have survived on the island despite losing the tourism and main revenue stream and the expats who are all have complicated histories. Reading The Last Ferry Out felt like reading about a fun and adventurous vacation to a remote island in Mexico that could be the setting of a cute romcom but actually turns into a more sinister and devastating conclusion.

I have posted my review on GoodReads and will be adding a review to Barnes and Noble, and posting about it on my Instagram. As soon as posts are active I will update links.

I have really enjoyed Andrea Bartz's previous thrillers and was excited to get my hands on her new release. This had a slow start and was overall a slow burn with some unpredictable twists. I enjoyed the POVs and timeline changes, they helped keep me a bit more engaged than I probably would have been otherwise. I didn't really care for most of the characters most of the time, they just felt two dimensional at times. The conversations felt very stilted. There were some definite jaw dropping reveals but overall I couldn't find myself fully invested in the story. Make sure to read trigger warnings prior to reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Last Ferry Out
By Andrea Bartz
Pub Date: May 20 2025

The idyllic isle of Colel is an expats dream. But no paradise is perfect as many who come are hiding from someone or something. Plus, not only do the expats have secrets, but so do the Colelenos. These combined secrets lead to a death, maybe a murder? Abby is driven to find out what happened to her fiancée, Eszter, even if the truth kills her.

Abby arrives by ferry to the Isle of Colel with the overwhelming desire to learn what Eszter loved about the island, meet her new friends, and find out how her ever-careful fiancée could die from anaphylactic shock. What Abby finds is an overgrown island left destroyed by a hurricane, but thriving through community and commitment. The band of expats seems nice enough, but Abby starts to doubt herself quickly when strange things happen, people disappear, and a massive storm traps her with those who may have killed Eszter.

The characters are well though-out, interesting, and evolve as you turn the pages. Each twist and turn lead you to suspect one person, and then another, until the last pages find you breathless with disbelief over what really happened to Eszter. Can love of community really drive people to murder?

Four Stars! Available May 20th!

Net Galley and Ballatine Books have provided me with an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I was a big fan of We Were Never Here and The Spare Room so I was thrilled to get my hands on The Last Ferry Out! Vacation thrillers are among my favorite sub genre.

While this felt slower paced than Bartz’s previous thriller I still couldn’t wait to see what happens.
The island setting is perfect and this mystery takes you on a wild ride.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballentine Books for this ARC.

Very excited to get a chance to read this ARC. The story is verrrrry slow to start. The beginning did not really hook me at all and I was just hoping to get through it. Thankfully, about a third of the way in the story starts to really come together. The ending is not predictable and even up until the last pages new little twists are being thrown in. Definitely a good little mystery and on par with the author’s other books which have also been interesting, twisty reads for me.

This was another entertaining thriller with a good amount of suspense and twists I wasn't expecting. This is about Abby, who travels to the remote island that her fiance, Eszter, died on while vacation a few months earlier. She starts doing some digging to find out what really happened to Eszter. Abby befriends a group of expats that Eszter was friends with to try and gather more info, but begins to think one of them might actually be Eszter’s killer. She doesn't know who she can trust. There are plenty of red herrings along the way in this one which kept me guessing and engaged. I liked the twists and thought the end was really good.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of The Last Ferry Out!

This was a solid thriller with some great twists. The author does a fantastic job at describing each scene and making it feel like as if you were standing there with the characters. I also really enjoyed how the author explored love, loss, and grief through each of the characters. I did see the twist at the ending coming to a certain degree, but it still managed to surprise me in other ways.

What I didn’t like about this book is the pacing. I felt like I was forcing myself through the book for the first 40-50% before the pacing picked up. Usually, I love thrillers that make me feel jumpy even after I’ve put them down. With this one, I found myself thinking “okay….and??” Also, the flashback scenes were nice, but I don’t feel as if they added much to the story or plot overall.

I do think that this could be a fun book to read at the beach or during a rainy day. It’s a solidly average book.

When Abby’s fianceé, Eszter dies while visiting an isolated island in Mexico, she feels a need to travel there as she has some unanswered question. The locals are very protective of their island, although they tolerate a small group of expats whom Eszter befriended. As Abby gets to know the group, she has even more questions, learns secrets that Eszter was keeping, and fears she may be in danger.

I have read and enjoyed prior works by this author. Atmospheric, with an interesting plot and clever twist, the story was revealed through alternating timelines and POVs. A bit of a slow burn, I felt it got bogged down at times with Abby’s introspection and deliberations. While I read the book quickly as I did want to find out what happened, it just didn’t draw me in as much as it should have.

This will be published in May - Eszter goes on a vacation to a remote island in Mexico and dies. Her partner, Abby, was supposed to meet her a few days later at the island and doesn’t understand what happened to her girlfriend. She gets to the island and begins asking questions, which is a bad idea. Lots of trigger warnings, which I am not a fan of because they usually contain spoilers, but it was a good read.